building connections

pets in which students are able to practice daily care of the animals. Through this meaningful work, students are able to better understand how animals and people are interconnected. Students are also able to practice cosmic education in the going out trips to care for the animals at the Steuben County Humane Shelter. While at the shelter, students care for the animals and the staff by cleaning and reading to the cats. In this outreach opportunity, students practice their own cosmic task by finding connections with animals and workers in the greater community. Many students expressed not only enjoyment with the experience, but also a new understanding for the world around them. For example, students learned a valuable lesson about how our choices impact others when the cleaning product the students were using on the windows left streaks. The students quickly recognized that our work was to leave the shelter cleaner than we came and went about solving the problem. These students understood how they were connected to the workers at the shelter. Additionally, many students connected so deeply with the cats and dogs at the shelter that they left feeling that animal care might be part of their cosmic task. Students shared that they might be interested in pursuing becoming zoo keepers or animal shelter workers in the future. And many students remarked that they wanted to continue caring for animals by having pets of their own. This experience truly allowed the students to organically recognize a strong connection between themselves and the greater universe.

All in all, as Montessorian elementary guides, it is our task and pleasure to engage students in cosmic education. As Dr. Montessori said herself, “To have a vision of the cosmic plan, in which every form of life depends on directed movements which have effects beyond their conscious aim, is to understand the child’s work and be able to guide it better.”